Chapter Sixteen:
They've reached the stairwell before Merlin's eyes turned to their normal color.
He collapsed on the fourth step, breathing hard.
"What'd wrong?" Arthur asked, pulling him up by the left arm, glancing fearfully around at the shaking walls and the hundreds of people running past them toward freedom.
"I can't," His servant replied, straining to get the words out. Arthur glanced down at him. He hadn't noticed before how pale his friend was, how dried blood caked almost every inch of his body.
"Sire!" Lancelot called, pulling Arthur's arm away from Merlin's hand. Arthur glanced at it, shocked. It was shuttered and broken, deformed beyond recognition.
Merlin was gaping for breath, helpless on the floor by their feet.
"You were fine five minutes ago," Arthur protested, helping Lancelot pull the feeble boy up to a standing position.
"I cast a numbing spell."
Spells. Sorcerer. Right.
"Why didn't you just heal yourself?"
"It doesn't work like that," Merlin managed. They positioned him between them, trying unsuccessfully not to touch anything too painful. Arthur felt Merlin's heart pounding as they started climbing up the stairwell once more, pushing against the crowds of freed wizards. His friend coughed, and blood drizzled out and onto Arthur's armor.
"So how does that numbing spell work, exactly?" Lancelot asked, fear lingering on his voice.
"Dunno," Merlin said sluggishly, his eyes unfocused. " 't was in Gaius's spell book."
"Gaius's spell book," Arthur repeated. "Brilliant."
He met Lancelot frightened eyes, worry overpowering him. What would he do if Merlin died? It would be his fault. He was the one to tell his father about Merlin. If he'd only known that Merlin was a sorcerer, he never would have…
Why didn't Merlin tell him? What would he have done if he had? Arthur could see the end of the stair well up a head. Soon they'd reach the cave, and from there, the frozen mountaintop. How long have they been under the mountain? How would they get back without their horses? What had Norane said when she took the horses to god knows where?
"Hold on, Merlin," Lancelot murmured.
Arthur feared he was the only one who heard it.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Gaius knew the formula.
At first, standing before the lines of herbs, sleeves pulled back with a knife in one hand, he wasn't sure he'd be able to remember it. He never wanted to. On the day that Percy, Perry's father and Amaroe's brother killed himself, Gaius threw away every scrap of parchment he could find of the formula for the cure, every experiment, every note and scribble. It was Amaroe, alone in his lonesome cottage in the mountains, who managed to rewrite the whole thing. It took him a longer time, certainly- Gaius never agreed to help him, not with herbs or remedies they'd discovered together, all those years ago. He recreated the whole thing from scratch, not even with Gaius's experience at hand. The only thing he had to work with was his own recollections, and the one formula he'd managed to scribble before Gaius burned them all, as his brother lay dead on the floor beside him and the city was alight with dragons' flames.
Gaius tried to forget the formula, forget the ingredients, forget the amounts. He thought he had.
But he hadn't.
He'd been working since the evening before. Remembering.
While he worked, Norane sat silently on one of the chairs.
"Tell me about Amaroe," She said finally.
Gaius paused, and glanced back at her, his face thoughtful.
"Why would you want to know about him?" He asked, stirring his latest attempt slowly counterclockwise.
The young girl didn't answer at first. Her face was entombed, and Gaius wondered why she never learned to show emotion. Her large blue eyes stared straight forward into the bubbling brew, clouded.
"Because," She said, and he could hear traces of hesitance in her words, "I have never met anyone but him, before this winter. He knows everything there is to know about me," Her voice was bitter. "And yet I know nothing at all about him."
She gazed at Gaius, right into his eyes. He felt his breath falter. Beyond her skeletal, pale look, she was even more beautiful then her mother.
"Very well," He said, and started.
It was just over eighteen years ago that the two young orphaned men came trudging into his home, one of them carrying an infant girl. They were brothers, best friends, and the only remains of their ruined village. Them, and the ash.
Those were the days of the purge. It has been a number of years since the birth of Arthur, the heir to the throne, and the death of his mother. King Uther was still in mourning. And as he grieved his dead wife, the people grieved their parents, children, neighbors, and friends, wizards that have committed no crime and harmed no body, who were massacred by the hundreds by Camelot's ruthless knights. They had been brought in cages into the city and hanged there, their faces covered by old sacks. Gaius remembered the sacks most. When death was certain they were pulled off the victim's head and thrown in the castle storage rooms. Hundreds and thousands of them, in looming piles mounting wickedly under the city.
He was the one to check the punished. As their bodies hung limply in the air he touched their often-bloodied wrists, checking for a pulse.
Some he managed to save, by lying, and pulling the bodies away from the piles of corpses. Most he couldn't.
Gaius was a younger man at the time, but he still realized that Uther's distorted, grieving mind would never stop chasing after the people he mistakenly believed murdered his wife. The king was going to rid the kingdom of sorcery, or die trying.
Uther was a good king. He did not over tax the peasants, and protected them with all his army's might. He was just and fair. He was levelheaded and believed in peace.
If he was overthrown, who knew who would take his place?
Gaius had always believed in Uther's rule over Camelot.
And yet, when the two men stepped into his chambers all those years ago, after a rebelling sorcerer named Grae had killed their entire world, he let them in.
Their names were Amaroe and Percy Gorge. Thin, their cloths degraded to an unimaginable level, their ribs showing as they walked. He gave them some broth, and wine to warm their freezing insides. The child they placed on Gaius's own bed, and she slept there soundly.
The older of the two, Percy, was so pale and skeletal he seemed more like a ghost then a man. He said nothing, allowing his younger brother to speak, as the young man chronicled their journey in the physician's ears. When he had finished, the old man permitted the two stay in his home, and gave them blankets and places to rest.
When Amaroe was asleep, Percy came to Gaius.
The two-year-old baby cooed softly, and the man's eyes rested on her with love, and fear. Gaius waited for him to speak, growing worried.
When he finally spoke, his voice was hoarse and broken.
"My wife had died in moments, and for that I am grateful," He said. He did not look at Gaius, but instead at his young daughter, smiling in her sleep. "I… When the wizards came- it was so… unspeakable."
Gaius nodded. Hate reflected in the man's eyes, a course loathing Gaius could not help but understand. The rebelling sorcerers were ruthless, for they were fighting for their right to exist.
Tears slid slowly down Percy's cheeks. Gaius was surprised when the man's pale hazel brown eyes focused on his own intensely.
"I was born with magic," He said. Gaius remained silent, though his heart began to thump within his chest. Not of fear for himself, of course, but for fear of this man, and his small, fragile family. The little girl sighed. "I was born with magic. A lot of magic. And I want- I want-" Percy was breathing harshly, the tears flooding his face and dropping onto the floor below. Gaius could not take his sight of the man's broken, lost eyes. "I want you to take it away."
There was silence.
Gaius found himself frowning, and he glanced briefly at the sleeping infant on the bed, and Amaroe, who was snoring on the sofa beyond the kitchen. "You want… to die?"
"No!" Percy shook his head vehemently. "No. I will not leave my little girl an orphan. I will not- I…
"I cannot look at myself," He whispered. "I can't look at my brother in the eyes. I've killed his parents. I've killed his best friend, and the girl he loved. I killed…"
"You killed?"
"My kind has killed," Percy closed his eyes, but the tears kept on coming. "If I am not a murderer yet, I will soon become one. I've never met a sorcerer who was… who was good. I've never met any magical being that did not use their abilities for wicked evils. Magic corrupts, and I want nothing more to do with it."
"But, certainly-"
"You are an esteemed physician," The man opened his eyes again, now pleading. "We've heard of you. You have brought science to Camelot. You have brought knowledge. You have brought-"
"Knowledge corrupts, as well," Gaius cut in. The man froze, blinking at him, and then, in desperation, grabbed his shoulders, gazing beseechingly into Gaius's eyes.
"Don't let my little girl be raised by a monster," He whispered, so that Gaius could hardly hear him at all. "Don't make me live with this burden. You can take it away. I know you can take it away. You can try on me. I don't care what happens. I'd rather be dead then be like those other men. I'd rather root in hell then hurt the people I love ever again."
"But you haven't-" Gaius insisted, but Percy's eyes only grew furious.
"I cannot stand it!" He called, waking his daughter. She began to cry softly. Amaroe turned in his sleep. "I…" Percy went over, picking her up. "Sh… Perry. Sh…"
He looked back at Gaius. Gaius closed his eyes, thinking.
"Please," Percy said, and the old physician sighed heavily. "Please…"
That was how he first thought of it. Curing magic.
In the following two years, it had become an obsession. As executions grew in number and frequency at Uther's court, Gaius found himself more and more engaged in the art of potion making and chemistry. As the king's knights gathered fleeing sorcerers into the city, Gaius created long, complicated formulas of unusual ingredients and principals and gave them to Percy to try. Amaroe helped him. The boy proved to be sharp of mind, and innovative. Percy did not want to tell his brother of his curse, his magic- and Amaroe didn't seem to realize. But in hindsight, Gaius thought that Amaroe must have known. He'd had to. He just didn't want to accept it.
Together they created ways to make wizards ill, and ways to make wizards healthy. Ways to make wizards joyous, and ways to make them depressed. They even found a way to make a wizard fall in love.
But they could never get rid of magic.
Around a year after they had began, on Prince Arthur's sixth birthday, King Uther fell in love.
Lady Norane was a servant girl, and the daughter of the most powerful dragon lord anyone has ever seen. Lord Toralo had the power to not only tame a dragon- but to ride one, across the endless skies.
Within a year, she was pregnant.
When the child turned out to be magical, Lady Norane was locked in a dark dungeon beneath the castle, and the executions- that had subsided for the months during which she lived in the castle- started again. King Uther's love for her became hate for all of her kind- now also including the dragon lords, which before he had thinly accepted.
Norane's father came to Gaius one dark night when the moon was full.
It has been a few months with no word from his daughter. The aging man, a little older the Gaius, had many sons- but his youngest and only daughter was his true joy and pride. Gaius welcomed him into the house with joy and trepidation. Toralo was a dangerous man. They'd met years before, when Gaius was just studying the art of potion-making and medicine.
"We will destroy this city," Toralo said then, accepting a flask of wine. Gaius glanced at the people seated around the table- his two apprentices, Amaroe and Percy, and Percy's young daughter Perry, playing with an old, torn doll. "We will bring the castle down, and Uther's court with it."
"You can't do that," Amaroe said. Gaius gave him a warning look, but the boy paid no notice. "There are thousands of people in the city. You can't condemn them all to death over your daughter!"
"King Uther is a murderer," The dragon lord said. "He must be stopped. I am only telling you this, Gaius, for the sake of our friendship. I do not ask your permission, or your help. I simply warn you to leave here, as fast and as quietly as you can."
Percy had been sitting quietly while the others were discussing warfare and politics for the better part of an hour. Now he spoke, not meeting the older man's gaze.
"Please, sir," His voice was quiet, almost muted, and his eyes had a strangeness within them, from the many experiments conducted on him. "Gaius and my brother are close to a solution. Give us a few more months, and we will have your daughter released, and your grandson a simple, non-magical second heir to the entire kingdom."
Toralo put down his wine, his unusual black eyes stunned.
"Non-magical?" the dragon-lord demanded, gazing from Percy, to Gaius, and back again. "What is he talking about, Gaius?"
Gaius glanced briefly at the toddler by his side. "It is a solution with the smallest amount of dead."
"You want to wipe away sorcery!" Toralo called, outraged. "To just… pull one of your silly potions and poison my brothers with its vile content-!"
"It's the right thing to do," Amaroe said coldly. "Sorcery must be stopped."
Gaius gazed at the young man.
"You have gone mad, Gaius," The dragon lord said, getting up. "I suppose it was to be expected, with your pathetic attempt to not use your natural gifts. But it is your right, of course, and I will not try to stop you." His fingers dug into the wood of the table, and he glared at Gaius, disbelieving.
"I am grateful for that," Gaius said. The two younger men stared at him. He'd never told them of his own magical abilities.
Toralo glanced down at the girl, then at Percy, and Gaius saw that he knew what they both were.
"Well. Careful what you wish for, boy," He told Amaroe, finished his wine, and left.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
They gave Percy the perfected cure the following day.
It worked perfectly. All his powers were gone.
But Percy was gone with them.
"You mean gone like the wizard Merlin was gone," Norane asked, as Gaius fell silent.
"Yes," Gaius said. "Exactly like that."
He cut some more herbs, and placed them into the brew. It turned a sickening green color, and he placed it to boil over the hearth.
"That was the day my grandfather attacked Camelot."
"Yes."
"The day I was born. When my mom died."
"At child birth. It's not uncommon."
"But he lost," Norane said, ignoring his last word. He glanced at her. She'd moved to stand behind him, and stirred as he pulled more leaves out of an unbroken jar.
"Lord Toralo?" She made no response. "Yes. He did. He died on his dragon's back, hit by an arrow. The battle took hours. Many men died. Women and children, too."
"And Percy Gorge."
Gaius froze, before proceeding to place the leaves gently, one by one, over the potion.
"Yes. He hung himself with a horse's reins. I think he thought it was the right thing to do, like his brothers, who were executed by hanging."
"It was not the right thing to do," She said, slowing her stirring.
"No." He said. "It wasn't."
"What happened next?"
Gaius did not answer, placing a steady finger into the liquid. It was boiling hot.
"It's ready," He said, and she closed her eyes, inhaling.
He picked up a bowl from the floor, and sunk it into the thick liquid. She took it, breathing in the fumes.
"Don't drink it yet," He warned. "Let it cool."
She nodded. "Thank you."
He sat across from her, gazing at the vapors disappearing in the cold air.
"When Percy died, Amaroe realized what his brother was," He said, remembering the body as it hung limply from the wooden ceiling rods. "I've told him the testing was on a peasant in the castle. When he realized…" He paused. "He became… Angry."
"More angry then when Grae murdered his entire village?"
"Much more angry," Gaius said. "He believed Percy had betrayed him. That he had gone and obtained magic in some way. Amaroe never agreed to believe that sorcerers were born with their magic. If his brother was magical, he must have done something terrible to get his powers- possibly something related to Grae, and the destruction of their old home."
"So he went to the king." Norane said.
"Yes. He went. He offered his services. And Uther- well, he was destroyed by your mother's death. He did love her, somewhere, deep in his distorted heart. And he loved you," He added, but Norane's mouth curled into a cynical smile. She closed her eyes, and drunk deeply, gulping the substance in large swallows.
"The king didn't know what to do with you. You were so small, I remember. And there came Amaroe, offering a cure…" Norane emptied the cup, and placed it carefully on the floor before her. She sat cross-legged on the ground, her eyes half open. "I gave Perry to a woman I knew, who was moving away, far from the city. She had a young son around her age, and I thought they could grow up together. Tolaro's dragon, Kilgharrah, was the last standing, the most powerful and majestic beast I've ever seen. It's been locked in the dungeons ever since. The last of its species. Alone. Forever."
He fell silent. Norane licked her lips, looking thoughtfully out the window.
"But he was released."
"Yes," Gaius said, surprised. "Just over a month ago. Merlin did it, I believe."
"So this Kilghattah. He must like Merlin quite a lot."
"I suppose you could say that," Gaius muttered. "Perhaps."
"I would think so," She said, and straightened her gaze to him. "The castle's been under attack for a few hours, now."
Gaius froze.
Norane stood; marching confidently over to the window, and pushing the curtains open for the first time in days.
Gaius gaped, stunned, at the castle, so close, smoke and flames mingling in the sky above it.
Now he could hear them, too. People screaming, terrorized, in the near by distance.
"Everyone were at that silly sword fight," Norane said, staring out into the deserted streets. "This place is rather secluded."
"We must stop it," Gaius said immediately, standing up. He stood there, bewildered, not knowing what to do.
Norane smiled at him, her eyebrows raised.
"What do you think we've been doing here, all this time?" She asked, and her eyes flashed brilliantly.
So...
What did you guys think of the new Merlin episode?
I was pissed! How could they stop there, in the very middle!